Dallas County (5-2) inched closer to its first playoff berth in over a decade Thursday night with a 55-22 win over Wilcox Central (0-7).

The Hornets scored six first half touchdowns in a dominant performance that gave them momentum going into road showdowns against Calera and Demopolis the next two weeks.

First, Dallas County made sure to take care of the Jaguars.

“Wilcox come out and they did a great job of taking it to us right there at first and we just didn’t adapt,” said Dallas County head coach Marty Smith. “We finally got some things rolling, some things went our way and luckily it snowballed for us.”

The Hornets scored three times during a four-minute stretch in the first quarter to take a commanding 21-0 lead.  Calvin Starks scored two of those touchdowns and Anthony Oliver added the other on a 50-yard touchdown pass thrown by Lane Wallace.

On Wilcox’s next possession, the Jaguars fumbled a snap on a punt and threw the ball up for grabs. Javarrius Dudley intercepted the pass and ran it back 40 yards for a touchdown, putting Dallas County up 28-0 with 10:51 left in the second quarter.

Derrion Atcheson scored on a 7-yard run on Dallas County’s next possession and Wallace connected with Paul Daniels for a 14-yard touchdown strike with 1:22 left in the half.

By that point it was 42-0 Hornets and the rout was on.

Darrell Moorer added a 8-yard touchdown in the third quarter and Starks ran for his third touchdown on an 82-yard run in the fourth, but by that time the outcome was more than decided.

The Dallas County defense held Wilcox to just 30 yards in the first half while the Hornets piled up 262 yards.

“The defense is getting to the football,” Smith said. “They are hustling and getting to the football and because of that we have a way to stop people and have an opportunity to be able to alter drives, stop drives and get three-and-outs.”

The Hornets played their backups a majority of the second half. Backup quarterback Hunter Skinner got a lot of snaps and running back Anthonie Rubin had several long runs.

Wilcox pulled within 48-14 in the second half after an 11-yard touchdown catch by Davonta Portis and a 47-yard run by Jajuan Finklea. The Jaguars also scored the game’s final touchdown on a 3-yard touchdown run by Johnathan Hayden.

The win was arguably the biggest of the year for Dallas County because it puts the Hornets 5-2 overall and 4-1 in area play. Dallas County has a chance to lock up a playoff spot with a win versus Calera or Demopolis over the next two weeks. If Dallas County wins both games it could win class 5A, area 4 outright, but if the Hornets lose both there’s a scenario where they could still miss the playoffs entirely despite four area wins.

“We’ve got to line up and see where we stack against the top teams in the region,” Smith said. “We’ve already laid an egg against Helena and we’ve got an opportunity to get some confidence and some belief that we can play with the big boys the next two weeks.”